Developing the Thighs with the Lat Machine - Charles A. Smith (1950)

 

From this issue: November 1950

This article is the first in a series Mr. Smith created on use of the Latissimus Machine . . . "A timely series of articles from the pen of our consultant editor. Never before has such a complete and thorough coverage of this valuable piece of equipment been published. Don't miss a single chapter!" 

Ah, the Fifties. 

Weight training is sometimes like taking a pretty girl out . . .

First, you hold her hand and in no time you want to shuffle the whole pack. 

A fellow buys a set of weights one day, and the next he is expecting lumps and bumps to sprout out all over him. Such things just CANNOT be rushed. Take your time, Brother, take your time! 

The reason for the failure of so many weight trainers is the fact that they want to accomplish too much in too short a period of time and of course, this leads to disaster. Barbells and weight apparatus are, in themselves, able to effect some near miracles in the field of Physical Education. A skinny, scrawny human being commences a course of weight training and in a matter of months has added weight and strength to his makeup. You hardly know him to see him anymore! 

Most novices are amazed at the progress they make -- which is so consistent and steady at the beginning they think it will last forever. But after a while, there is a lag. It might come after two or three months and will possibly arrive even sooner, but it comes eventually. 

The workouts are boring, tedious. It's a bother to take one. You seek excuses to get out of a training session. Enthusiasm is missing. Training has become a punishment instead of a pleasure and your measurements are standing still. Strength, you find, is passed increasing. The muscles lose their tone, and the skin, instead of that glossy sheen, appears dull, while the eyes lack luster. Hangover . . . ? No. Just a very bad case of staleness. 

Now, the sensible thing to do here is to take a rest for a month. After the rest, then comes the question of a new schedule. It has been said that a change is as good as a tonic and I don't think anyone will disagree. When we are tired, bored with out everyday existence, new faces, new places, new food and a new suit of clothes perks us up. 

Life seems brighter and we once more take an interest in what's going on around us. The tired businessman goes on a fishing trip. The busy executive gets close to Nature in wood and forest and lake. He is able to gain new confidence, build up new ideas and plan new projects. 

Danny Kaye, the famous comedian . . . 

Bio here . . . 

 

. . . improved his routine immensely by accepting a limited engagement in England, where, before a new type of audience with a different reaction, he found himself anew, and returned to the States better than ever. 

So this is an article on the LAT machine? 

Yes it is! 

Let me take my time, make my point and you'll get what I'm driving at. 

The lat machine is a "specialization" apparatus. Like the leg press machine, the hopper, and the Harvey Maxime bar, although no so recent a development as these. The Lat machine and its brother, the pulley, are used as a certain means of combating staleness and ensuring that progress does not come to a halt. 

In my opinion, the lat machine is without equal in developing the arms and back. It is the most valuable piece of apparatus in the whole book of weight training. More and more, it is being used in hospitals and clinics, by doctors and physiotherapists, to correct the many postural defects and after-effects of war wounds and surgery. Paraplegics use this machine with wonderful results and life for them is made so much easier and more bearable. 

With this machine of specialization, in fact with all these "special" types of exercising apparatus, the body is weaned from the infant weightlifting diert to the exercising food of the champion. The routine advances from that of the newborn bodybuilder to the full blown adult schedule of the physical excellence contest winner. 

While it is possible, with most pieces of weightlifting equipment, to trace its origin, yet it would be the most difficult task to say exactly where the latissimus machine began. Personally, I believe that the lat machine and the pulley were born out of the block and tackle of the seafarers. In the old sailing ship days, seamen were noted for their powerful physiques and broad strong backs. Their tanned, brawny arms were objects of admiration to "land lubbers," and many parents sent their young sons to sea in the clipper ships which rounded Cape Horn so that they would become "toughened up" and able to stand the rough and tumble of life in general. The hauling of thick ropes through blocks and pulleys, the pulling of hawsers around capstans when the anchor was hoisted, all developed the arms and backs of the sailors to above average musculature.

Perhaps the first weightlifting studio to use pulleys and lat machines exclusively was that of the British physical culturist, Alan. P. Meade. Meade had every conceivable type of latissimus machine rigged up in his studio. There were even machines for exercising the lower back and the neck and others for development of the calves and forearms. No other studio before or since had such a complete collection of the now-favorite piece of equipment of thousands of bodybuilders. 

In this country, the machine has found favor in all of the West Coast studios. Every bodybuilder of note and thousands upon thousands of beginners use it. George Eiferman, Jack Dellinger, Clancy Ross, Reg Park, Sam Sulek, Steve Reeves, Jack LaLanne and a host of other famous physique men including Everett Sinderoff and John Farbotnick have made great use of this equipment to build up their arms and back, forearms and serratus magnus muscles. The lat machine is without equal in developing definition and height of the biceps and triceps. It's great for breaking monotony in workouts and adding interest to your training periods. 

It has not yet reached the heights of popularity in the East which it now enjoys on the West Coast, but more and more bodybuilding studios in New York City, and other centers of population, are constructing these machines. Recently, Weider Barbell Co. has commenced manufacturing . . . 

he took his sweet time with the sales pitch in this one. 

Carrying on, several paragraphs later . . . 

THIGH SPECIALIZATION ON THE LAT MACHINE 

Note: this is the first article of the series. 

First, perform all the orthodox exercises such as the Deep Knee Bend, and other customary thigh developers. I suggest the following: 

The Deep Knee Bend. 

In this exercise, start off with a weight you can easily handle for 8 reps and work up to 20 reps. Add ONE REP each workout. When you have finished your squats, take a SHORT rest and go right into . . . 

The Leg Press. 

Take a weight which you can handle easily for 15 reps and work up to 25 reps adding one rep each workout. After another short rest period, start on . . . 

Bench Squats.

Take  a weight which you can handle easily for 8 reps, and with the bar held across the shoulders as in the ordinary squat, perform all your movements off a bench, resting for 2 seconds between each squat. Increase by one rep each workout, until you have reached 20 reps. 

Now comes the important part of your thigh specialization schedule. You have dealt with the larger muscles of the thighs and you are going to reach the underlying muscle fiber and the smaller muscles which add size and shape to your development. 

You will need two things here, a training partner and a pair of iron boots. The iron boots are secured onto the lat machine bar about 16 inches apart and kept in place with dumbbell collars. A mat, or bench is placed under the bar and you are all ready to commence. 

Exercise One: 

For the muscles of the hip girdle. Particularly effective for slimming and conditioning the buttocks and increasing the muscular tone and size of the hips. Lay on your back on a bench or mat and get your training partner to fasten your feet in the iron boots. The legs are held STRAIGHT UP. From this position, keeping the KNEES locked and the entire leg RIGID, pull down with the locked legs until the heels touch the floor and return to original position and repeat. 

Start off with  2 sets of 10 reps and increase to 2 x 20 over time, then add weight and feel free to call this a pulley reverse hyper if you like.   

Exercise Two: 

For the biceps of the thigh. Lay on your back and fasten feet in the iron boots. With thighs held STRAIGHT up, pull down on the bar, KEEPING THE UPPER LEGS STILL and moving the LOWER LEGS ONLY. This is a similar motion to leg curls. 

Start off with 2 x 10 and work up to 2 x 20 before adding weight. 

Exercise Three: 

For the vastus internus and externus. Lay on your tummy on the floor or bench [I for one like the combination of manly-man lifting and use of that word "tummy"]. Bend the LOWER thighs at the knees so that they point straight UP and fasten the feet to the lat machine bar. From this position, keeping the UPPER THIGHS motionless, pull DOWN on the bar with the lower legs until the toes touch the ground or the knees lock, and return to original position and repeat. 

Same set/rep weight-progression as above. 

Exercise Four: 

A combination biceps and quadriceps femoris movement. Also affects the muscles above the knee, the vastus externus and internus. Take up a position as in Exercise Three. Commence this exercise by flexing the lower leg on to the upper thigh. Pull down the bar with the lower leg until the heels touch the upper thighs. From here return to the original position and carry on the movement until the lower legs are fully extended -- knees locked. The lower leg makes a half circle from the backs of the upper leg until fully straightened with knee locked. 

Same set/rep weight-progression as above. 

Exercise Five: 

Remove the bar from the lat machine and replace it with a strong belt or canvass strap. Lay on your SIDE immediately under the strap and raise ONE thigh until the strap can be hooked over one foot. From this position PULL DOWN on the strap until the thighs touch. Allow the leg to return to original position and repeat. 

Start off with 2 sets of 15 reps per leg and work up to 30 before adding weight.

After your thigh specialization is over, massage the thighs gently with a little athletic rub, a.k.a. horse salve, kneading the muscles and squeezing them gently, then take a warm bath and -- GET THAT EIGHT HOURS SLEEP. 

Bibliography: - this is different - 

"The Kinesiology of Corrective Exercise" 

by Gertrude Hawley. 

"Rehabilitaion after Fractured Femurs"

by Lt-Col. A.J. Cokkinis.

"Rehabilitation, Re-Education and Remedial Exercises"

by Olive F.G. Smith. 

"1949 Year Book of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation"

by Frank H. Krusen and Howard Rusk, M.D.'s. 

Next in the lat machine series: 

"The Complete Development of the Abdominal Region." 

Enjoy Your Lifting!